15 indicted as Mexican drug cartel's Chicago cell

November 20, 2009

A Mexican drug cartel, including 15 people whose federal indictments were announced today, distributed thousands of pounds of cocaine and collected millions of dollars in the Chicago area in recent years, authorities alleged today.

Most of those indicted were arrested in August as part of an investigation known as Project Coronado, a multi-agency drug trafficking investigation that resulted in more than 300 people being arrested that month in 19 states, according the U.S. attorney's office. The cell operated throughout the Chicago area.

The indictments released today alleged that the 15 and others were part of the Chicago drug-distribution cell of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel. The Drug Enforcement Administration has seized more than $8 million and more than 550 pounds of cocaine during the investigation, in suburbs including Berwyn, Bolingbrook, Oak Lawn, Hickory Hills, Justice and Joliet, authorities said.

Those who ran the cartel's branch in Chicago worked closely with a contact in Mexico to organize drug distribution, according to a press release from the U.S. attorney's office. Those indicted face charges of conspiracy to possess and distribute large quantities of cocaine, and some also face other drug-trafficking related charges.

A total of 20 people, including those indicted this week, are charged in the investigation.

Leaders of the cell were Jorge Luis Torres-Galvan, 31, of Danforth, Ill., and Jose Gonzalez-Zavala, 37, of Joliet, who worked under the person in Mexico who was their contact with the larger cartel, according to their indictment. They are in federal custody.

One 24-year-old Rockford man named in one of the indictments is a fugitive, authorities said.

Each defendant could face a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years in prison and a maximum of life. and a $4 million fine if convicted on the conspiracy count each is charged with.

For more details, and to read the indictment, visit the U.S. attorney's Web site HERE.